


As Others See Us

by Writeonthrough (Schroederplayspiano)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, meet the parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6834769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schroederplayspiano/pseuds/Writeonthrough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Parent’s Day at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy.  As Fitz and Jemma’s families meet for the first time, they discover how deep their children’s bond really goes. Bonus: Special Appearance by Milton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Others See Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grapehyasynth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapehyasynth/gifts).



Long brown hair fell down the doorway of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy’s Auditorium H. Brown eyes soon followed as Jemma tilted her head and leaned around its corner to get a peak at the crowded room.

“Can you see them?” Fitz stepped closer and whispered in her ear.

“No.”

“Maybe they’re just late.”

“You must be talking about your mom, because my parents are never late.”

“And, yet—they’re not there. Maybe your tardiness finally rubbed off on them.”

Jemma whipped her head around to narrow her eyes at Fitz. “Do you want me to bring up the time you missed half of chem lab? Because I can.”

“No.” Fitz said shortly and retreated from his gleeful expression. After a beat, he asked again, “Why can’t you see them?”

Jemma peered around the auditorium’s doorway again. “Our presentation is in the back. It’s hard to see.”

“In the back?” Appalled, Fitz pulled Jemma’s elbow back and took her position at the doorway. “What is our presentation doing in the back?”

“Ugh, Fitz.” Jemma exclaimed, pulling her hands out from their resting place on her neck. “It’s beneath center stage. It’s fine. Relax.”

“‘It’s fine,’ she says. ‘Relax’” Fitz repeated, going to great lengths to mock her. “Humph. Like you wouldn’t be freaking out if our project wasn’t in the center, right below the stage.”

Fitz held her gaze, as if challenging her. She caved with an exhale. “Of course I would. But like I said, it’s below center stage, so we’re fine.”

“Fine.” Fitz snuck his head back around the auditorium’s door. “Are we going to admire our project from here or are we actually going to give our presentation at some point?”

“Leo. Fitz.” Jemma stated to the back of his head. “Over-eager. What a surprise.”

“Jemma. Simmons. Afraid of disappointing her parents. Shocker.”

“Shut-up.”

Satisfied Jemma couldn’t see his smirk, Fitz continued. “So, we’re just going to hide here until you spot them in that packed Auditorium?”

“Yes.” Jemma replied matter-of-factly. “Spending the minimum amount of time with your parents on parents weekend is the goal. Hiding from them is key—”

“Leo.” A woman’s voice announced herself from behind.

“Ooh,” Fitz froze. “Bugger!” He turned around to come face to face with his mother.

“Oh, Bugger?” Donna raised her eyebrows inquisitively at the son she hadn’t seen in six months. “Is that any way to greet one’s mother?”

Jemma bit her lip to prevent herself from smirking.

“Hi, Mum.” Fitz forced himself to smile. Donna outstretched her arms for a hug and Fitz had no choice but to go into them.

“You must be Jemma!” Donna released her son the moment her gaze fell upon Jemma. “I didn’t see you there.”

“Yes. I was hiding.” She shuffled her feet. “And clearly doing a better job at it than Fitz.”

“Hiding?” Donna asked, intrigued. Her gaze bounce between them. “What mischief have you two gotten into this time?”

“Mischief?” Jemma laughed uncomfortably. “We don’t get ourselves into mischief.” She said before turning to Fitz and giving him a ‘ _what have you told her_?’ look.

“Ooh…” Donna’s smile widened. A knowing twinkle lighted her eye. “He didn’t tell me anything, Jemma. The stories that get around about you two—Fitzsimmons _fitzsimmonsing_.”

“Um—sorry—” Jemma tucked a hair strain behind her ear and pushed her chin further out towards Donna. “Fitzsimmonsing?”

Donna nodded. “Hmm-hm. It’s totally a thing.” If she felt Fitz’s tug on her elbow, she chose to ignore it. “You haven’t heard that before? I could have sworn I heard it at least two times on my way over here.”

“Oh-Okay.” Fitz started towards the crowded auditorium, dragging his mother behind him. “Let’s go see our experiment presentation, shall we?” Jemma walked behind them with her hands clasped together behind her back, preoccupied with the concept of Fitzsimmonsing.

The concept fascinated her to the point where she didn’t realize they had made it to the other end of the auditorium. Her mother’s greeting of “Jemma, darling!” broke her from her trance.

“Mum.” She smiled at her mother and then her father. “Dad.”

Katherine reached out to stroke her daughter’s cheek while her husband leaned in to kiss her hair.

John motioned to their presentation. “You project is amazing, sweetie.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Jemma replied and then motioned to Fitz. “It was mostly Fitz’s idea, actually.”

“Uh—” Fitz lost his thought as he looked up at Jemma’s father. He was tall. Given Jemma’s height, it surprised him that her father was so much taller than she was. Then again, Fitz looked back at Katherine’s petite size and Jemma seemed like a good mix of both her parents’ DNA.  “That’s not true. We came up with it together, just thinking out loud, riffing off each other’s ideas.”

“I’m sorry?” John leaned down a little and extended his chin towards Fitz. “Riffing off—?”

Donna nudged John as if he was an old friend. With a proud smile she said, “They were Fitzsimmonsing.”

“Mum!”

Katherine glanced between Donna and Fitz. “They were what?”

“Nothing!” Jemma and Fitz insisted together.

For some reason, John’s facial features captivated Fitz. He was trying to spot which of his DNA features he had passed down to Jemma, but soon Fitz realized John reminded him of someone else—

“Milton!” Jemma’s arms reached across Fitz to greet her boyfriend.

Fitz rolled his eyes when Milton rested his hand on Jemma’s hip and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

A. Kiss. On. The. Cheek. _Really_? And in front of her parents, no less.

“Hi!” Jemma squeaked in an octave too high for Fitz.

“Hey, babe.” Fitz watched Milton’s hand stay on Jemma’s hip. His fingers played with the her T-shirt’s seam, teasing her bare skin. “I just did another search of the room. Your project is clearly the best one here.”

Fitz blinked at Milton, unimpressed. “You had to do a second search for that?”

“Leo!” Donna scolded him, her cheeks blushing as she looked around the circle of people.

“Ahem,” Katherine coughed, doing whatever she could to move passed the awkward moment. Unbeknownst to her, she only added to it. “Jemma, you haven’t introduced us to your friend.”

“Oh, right! Sorry.” Fitz noted when Jemma finally moved out from Milton’s hold. “Mom. Dad. This is Milton.”

“Hi—” Milton’s voice came out higher than usual. He cleared his throat and held out a hand to John. “Hi, I’m Milton.”

John’s lips twitched. Fitz didn’t know he could feel a high off of someone’s facial expression.

“Nice to meet you, Milton.” Katherine said politely, shaking his hand.

“Likewise.” Milton’s smile was a little too charming for Katherine. He lost the charming expression when his attention centered back on Jemma. “Hey, babe, are you guys about done here? Because if you are, my parents and I are having lunch in ten minutes if you wanted to—”

Each of the three parents’ shoulders rose with inhale. All three of them planned to politely decline the invitation at once, but then Jemma said:

“Oh, thanks, that’s sweet. Actually—Fitz and I promised we would show off our project to our parents and we haven’t had the chance to do that yet…plus—” Jemma stepped closer and lowered her voice. “I told you—didn’t I tell you?—My parents are taking me, Fitz and his Mum out to lunch—”

“Oh, yeah. You did. Sorry.”

Katherine offered him another polite smile. “Another time, Milton.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. S!” Milton rushed to give Jemma a quick kiss goodbye—at which point Katherine turned to John and mouthed ‘ _Mrs. S?_ ’—and sped off in the opposite direction.

At the first chance he had, Fitz nudged Jemma to reclaim her attention. “Simmons. Shall we get on with—”

“With our presentation?” Fitz handed her the first piece of their project. “Yes, we shall Fitz. Yes, we shall.”

Within a minute of hearing their children present together, Katherine, John, and Donna all experienced Fitzsimmonsing first hand. Since most of the science was above their heads anyway (except for maybe John), the parents focused on their children’s behavior as they worked together. It wasn’t just that they finished each other sentences, their whole bodies changed when their minds melded together. Somehow, they become one: one unit, one speaker, one body.

When they finished their presentation, the two families began to shuffle through the crowd to share a nice lunch together. Jemma stayed close to Fitz in the shuffle, hoping to avoid any unnecessary chit-chat.

Her plan failed, however, when her mother pulled her back by the elbow. “Hey. You and Fitz are great together.” Jemma raised her eyebrows, unsure if her mother was stating the obvious or insinuating something else. “I’m glad you finally found someone who’s perfect match for you.”

Jemma parted her lips to speak, but instead looked at ahead of her. Something about his curly hair, height, and semi-humped shoulders made her say, “Me too, Mum. Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Loved to hear from you in the comments! ♥︎


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